The Longhorns are the nation’s top all-sports program for the second-straight year.
The UT Tower will shine with burnt-orange lights and the number “1” displayed on its sides Sunday, August 21 to celebrate Texas Athletics winning the 2021-22 Division I LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup.
On the strength of four National Championships and 10 NCAA top-two finishes, the Longhorns won the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup for the second-straight year. UT snapped Stanford’s 25-year stronghold on the Directors’ Cup last year and now joins the Cardinal as the nation’s only programs to win it in back-to-back years.
The LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup was developed as a joint effort between NACDA and USA Today. A revised scoring system was implemented for the 2017-18 season. Points are awarded based on each institution’s finish in NCAA Championships. Division I schools can score points in a maximum of 19 sports, four of which must be baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball.
Last year, Texas claimed the Directors’ Cup for the first time in program history with 1,252 points. That victory snapped an impressive run by Stanford that began in 1994-95 and went through 2018-19 (no Cup was awarded in 2019-20 due to COVID-19). North Carolina won the first Cup in 1993-94. The Longhorns finished second in the standings three times during the Cardinal’s 25-year run, earning runner-up honors in 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2004-05.
During the 2021-22 season, the Longhorns amassed 1,449.50 points. Stanford placed second with 1,352.25 points, while Michigan finished third with 1,245.25 points. Texas scored in all four mandatory sports – women’s volleyball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball – and in the maximum 15 additional sports.
Texas recorded four NCAA Championships during the 2021-22 academic year, tying the school record for most team titles in a single season set in 1985-86. The Longhorns registered NCAA team titles in Men’s Indoor Track and Field, Women’s Tennis, Rowing and Men’s Golf. The titles were back-to-back NCAA Championships for Women’s Tennis and Rowing, the fourth national crown for Men’s Golf, and Texas’ first-ever National Championship in Men’s Track and Field.
UT also has set a single-season school record with six NCAA runner-up team finishes in Women’s Indoor Track and Field, Women’s Swimming and Diving, Men’s Swimming and Diving, Softball, Men’s Outdoor Track and Field and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field. Of the school’s 20 intercollegiate programs, the Longhorns posted 10 top-two NCAA team finishes, topping UT’s previous mark of five set during the 1988-89 season. Additionally, UT’s Men’s Track and Field/Cross Country program was named the USTFCCCA John McDonnell Men’s Program of the Year for its final finishes across all three seasons.
Texas produced 12 top-five and 14 top-10 team finishes at NCAA Championships during the recent academic year. It is also notable that with Baseball and Softball both advancing to the College World Series, Texas was one of only two schools to advance to the final eight teams of the NCAA Championship tournament in those sports. This marks the most NCAA top-five team finishes by the Longhorns since Texas added Rowing as a varsity sport in the 1997-98 season (previous was nine in 2020-21). It also marks the most NCAA top-10 team finishes by the Longhorns, eclipsing the previous record of 13 achieved in both 2020-21 and 2002-03.
The Longhorns posted top-10 NCAA performances in Volleyball (tied for fifth), Women’s Basketball (tied for fifth), Baseball (tied for seventh) and Men’s Tennis (tied for ninth). UT also added NCAA top-25 showings in Women’s Golf (13th), Men’s Cross Country (14th) and Men’s Basketball (tied for 17th) and received points from Women’s Cross Country (tied for 32nd) and Women’s Soccer (tied for 33rd).
Texas recorded its fourth-straight top-five Director’s Cup finish after a fifth-place showing in 2017-18 and a fourth-place effort in 2018-19. There was no award in 2019-20 due to COVID-19. UT also was the top-ranked institution in the Big 12 Conference in the Directors’ Cup standings for the eighth-consecutive year and has been the top-ranked school in its respective league (Big 12 or Southwest Conference) 21 times in the 29-year history of the Directors’ Cup.
Texas has now recorded a top-10 finish a total of 22 times in the 29-year history of the Directors’ Cup: 1st (2020-21 and 2021-22), 2nd (2001-02, 2002-03 and 2004-05), 3rd (2005-06), 4th (1995-96 and 2018-19), 5th (2007-08 and 2017-18), 6th (2008-09, 2011-12 and 2013-14), 7th (1993-94, 1996-97 and 2016-17), 8th (2006-07), 9th (1999-2000, 2014-15 and 2015-16) and 10th (1994-95 and 2003-04).
